The buzz: Almost universal acclaim for a story you wouldn't be able to discuss in polite conversation. Like all his movies. "Tarantino, with lip-smacking down-and-dirty subversive gusto, rubs our noses in the forbidden spectacle of America's racist ugliness," Entertainment Weekly says.

Les Miserables

The gist: In case the one with Liam Neeson and Uma Thurman didn't do it for you 16 years ago, here's more stars singing the tale of a convict on the lam who adopts a whore's daughter, then falls in with a pack of traitors who go all Waco on the Parisian government. Yeah, doesn't sound so romantic and grand when you put it that way, does it? PG-13

The buzz: A somewhat uneven telling, but what do you want with such a huge tale? "It is enormous and sprawling and not the slightest bit subtle. But at the same time, it's hard not to admire the ambition that drives such an approach," the AP says.

Parental Guidance

The gist: An older couple watch their grandchildren for a week, but learn their daffy helicopter-parent kids have taught them old-school rules don't apply anymore. Great. Do endless beatings still apply? Because those are available. PG